Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Internet does keep most of us in a hopeful mood. If we want to know about something we know what to do right, "Google it!" is what we advise each other in such circumstances. I often grumble "Why can't you just tell me!!!'' when I hear something like that from my friends, but I do agree it is the best and the easiest choice we have. Surprisingly this is what I was greeted with on my laptop screen a few days ago.

This was more like a Catch-44! The immediate question in my mind was what next, rather where next. Glitches apart, isn’t this robot or whatever it looks like impressively innovative. Look at the falling nuts and bolts, the helplessness depicted is absolutely hilarious yet technical.

What made me think was the last line highlighted in grey “That’s all we know”, now imagine something or someone on whom you are entirely dependent on telling you this when you need them the most! The problem at times is that we are never prepared for the unexpected and that is what makes us vulnerable to whatever little difficulty life throws at us. We panic, lose our cool and give up. The best of our things may go kaput, the best of our ideas may not work or the best of our friends may throw their hands up. It can happen, there are possibilities.

What can happen how, where and why we really do not know, because “That’s all we know” We are indeed very little and imperfect when we think of our power in this world. All we can do is what Google suggested me here” Please try again…” Well for me it did work after 30 seconds;-) My suggestion when you face something like this, remember what Sue Monk Kidd says in her book ‘The Secret Life of Bees’-

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Dad: He took her hand, and he kissed it. Then he swooped her up onto his horse. And the beautiful princess and the handsome prince rode off to his castle...where they lived happily ever after...

Sam: Do fairy tales come true, Dad?.

Dad: Well, no. But dreams come true.

Sam: Do you have a dream?

Dad: Yeah. My dream is that you'II grow up and go to college and then maybe someday you'II build your own castle.

Sam: Where do princesses go to college?

Dad: They go...where the princes go. They go to Princeton.But, Sam, you know, fairy tales aren't just about finding handsome princes.They're about fulfilling your dreams...and about standing up for what you believe in. As I always say, never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

If you have watched the movie 'A Cinderella Story', this father daughter conversation in one of the first few scenes may seem familiar. When I watched it I could not help but smile because this is what precisely I have been hearing from my Dad all through my life. Some fathers are typical, aren't they? They want their daughter not to be any prince's princess but they want them to be their own queen, strong and independent. Nothing else makes them proud.

Very long ago when I was in class three I had played the role of Cinderella in a drama during the annual school day function. The flowing cloud blue dress and the dark blue tiptoeing shoes are etched in my memory forever. The movie stirred those good and naive times of childhood. What I remember even more is the excitement with which Dad and Mom were running around the whole town for a week or so in a search for the perfect attire. And when I was on the stage wearing what they had brought me their happiness knew no bounds.Isn't it wonderful, the smile on the face of someone to whom you mean the world, especially when you are the reason behind it?

Fulfilling your dreams and standing for what you believe in is worth more than any crown which can make you a princess is what I have always been told, just like Sam. If you know what you want to be and where you want your life to go there is nothing like it, now that is exactly what I call a perfect fairy tale. I believe in it, do you?:-)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

I have always had this secret wish to teach at least once in my life, exactly like my teachers in school. These days it is more than coming true. Everything comes tagged with a clause right, and therefore today I was with a bunch of not so nervous but test giving students, I was invigilating them for an hour or so. Very mundane and tiring task, now I get what it takes to be teacher.

Being on the other side in an examination hall and having nothing really worth to do, it is fun to watch the plethora of expressions on the face of someone who is trying to figure out what to write. While some stare at the walls and ceiling, some bite their pen like it is the only food for thought and some refuse to lift their head up because they are really busy scribbling an epic tale. Watching them I had this ‘been there done that’ feeling and I realized that I belong to the third category. I could not help but smile.

Every teacher can write a book titled ‘Funny Answers By Students’, this one is an entry to mine:

This was supposed to be a short note for five marks, and whoever wrote this answer took the meaning of ‘short’ in the most literal sense I guess. This is all he had to say. Whatever this student has written is definitely right. Our answers to all those questions of life...I wish they were this simple, sigh.

Have any test episodes and experiences to share? You are in the right place:-)

Monday, October 10, 2011

The forests are not perennially green but yet our dear dame Vanessa, a butter yellow butterfly roams every nook and corner, every creek and crevice to meet every bush and plant everyday. She greets and thanks them all for everything that they give her while she needs them the most. The periwinkles are her favorites. She makes sure that she hugs them tight with her wings at least once during her visits. She loves her wings although they are not really bright and bother her now or then. But one day it was different. “Dear Vanessa why do you just flutter by?” asked one of the periwinkles out of concern, her critics that they are. This made her think. Things were different from then on. She flew back thinking of an answer. She had to come up with one. And now she is sitting on a rusty window sill looking at the rain on the other side of the glass, pondering over the purpose of her life. She is hoping to know.Can you help Vanessa, why do you think she is in this world ? Why do you think you are in this world?

"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever."

-Carl Sagan-

We all have these Vanessa moments now and then. Everyone wants to be something different but at the end of the day what each one of us gets back home with is a deserved share of pain and happiness, nothing else. If everyone and everything is unique in this world, why do not we show or appreciate it enough ? What binds us to the sameness we live in? Thank God, Vanessa has her periwinkles to make her realize and save her. Not everyone has. You or me may not have, you or me may not need. You or me may not be Vanessa at all. But remember what this little flying fairy has to say " Look at me, my wings are the worth of all joys and my days are the length of all life in this world".Understanding this she flies back to the forests again.This time to hug the cherry blossoms, daisies, lilies, leaves, mosses and weeds along with the periwinkles. Vanessa has found her purpose, have you?

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Ah well he did put. To do what you say you want to do is a feat by itself, an ode to this man for that. Not many of us own a life that can inspire another few. Steve Jobs, mostly known for his exceptional contributions which have changed the world and more so for this Commencement Address at Stanford in 2005 has left us with a firm belief that Appleis more than a fruit.

The part of his speech which has dinged my mind and always stayed with me is this:

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary"

The life and words of Steve Jobs have taught me:

Where you come from is not what that matters, it is where you go that does

Be open to learning new things because you never know what, when and how anything can come to use

Work is a large part of our lives, DO NOT settle. If you do not like it do not do it. Love what you do

Look into the mirror, question yourself, find your own answers

Look backwards, connect your past to your future

Accept success, embrace failure

Most importantly live your dream, inspire the others to dream about your living.

Greatness is not in being famous, it is in making a positive difference in the lives of the people who matter and who do not as well. Most of us shall leave this world with memories for our kith and kin, but this man has left us with a life full of ideas and inspiration.Ding enough.

The world is cloaked in darkness when I wake up in the mornings. The curtains draping the windows of my room seem like giant stage screens before an opera begins, I pull them everyday because I always wish for something new out there. The winds from the sea which smell of salt have quietened themselves. The crickets who have hummed throughout the night are mellowing down. I look at the book which kept me busy before I fell asleep. It is lying open next to the pillow on the page I was reading, the story had paused. It is then when I notice that everything has.

What is the point in getting up from bed if you are too tired doing the same dreary thing again and if you do not know what else to do with the next twenty four hours that you have? What if you have had enough or are hungry for more? Being busy is sometimes enough to make you feel dull and dead. Believe me it is possible. Sometimes a pause or a change is the need of the moment. Well, what it shall be and how it shall come is the question. The answer to which not many of us can predict or know. That is what life is all about. Maybe that is why we believe in hope, and we wait for the sunrise. I daily do.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert Heinlein-

Agree? I am a fanatic when it comes to lengthy quotes, more so when they make the most sense.Sharing this one with you here:-) Specialization is not every human's forte, but when we do something we should be giving it our best. Every activity that we want to do is worth a try, every effort is worth a result. There is no room for inertia if we are on the move. Stand saying "Oh some other time!" and watch the jumbos tramp over you, you see specialization is really for the insects;-)

ABOUT THE CANARY

Flying through the seasons of life with me,myself and the world...A little of this and a little of that and all of everything!A Doctor by instinct,a Bookworm by desire...
I am what I was...I am what I can be:)